Scraplings of a Childhood
by TheHunterPersian
Summary: When your childhood flies by, and one gets older, how can you accustom yourself to such changes? The Cluefinders find themselves at such a predicament, until Joni uncovers an old scrapbook to bring back nostalgic memories.


**(AN: "Oh hey Ivan, what did you do today?"**

 **"Oh well I wrote a 3k word fanfiction about a children's edutainment game from like two decades ago."**

 **That's how the conversation in my head goes anyway.**

 **Anyway, did you know the Cluefinders this year turns 20? Hard to believe something I used to play when I was younger so long ago.**

 **So I whipped this little thing up to kinda celebrate it. This probably won't be my last Cluefinders fic, I already have another idea for one but uh... it'll be... something...**

 **Enjoy regardless!)**

* * *

The glow of the TV shut off as the fan in Joni's room spun around in a circle. Socrates lay by the red head's bed, napping away.

She couldn't believe it. Just tomorrow, she'd be starting her first day of high school. It seemed so long ago that she met Santiago, Owen, and Leslie back in elementary school, had their Cluefinding adventures just maybe two years ago, yet here they were: a new chapter in her life.

Though Joni was glad that her friends would be accompanying her to the same school, she couldn't help but think: was she growing up too fast?

"Ugh, I can't be thinking about stuff like this!" She said, groaning. "If I'm gonna be stressing out about this, why don't I stress about it tomorrow?!"

It was silly: her? Joni Savage? Stressed? And she was supposed to be the leader of her pack of friends…

In what seemed like a saving grace, there was a knock at her window. Socrates' head perked up from where he napped.

"Who's there?" She called out.

"Joni? It's just me," A familiar voice responded. It was Santiago.

"Geez, Santiago. Don't scare me like that. What are you doing this-"

As Joni pulled the blinds up, she also saw Owen and Leslie standing by him.

"Oh, Owen and Leslie too? What's the occasion?" She asked.

"Kinda can't sleep when I think about what tomorrow's gonna bring us. So I called up Leslie and even though she complained that she'll most likely run late tomorrow, she answered and I asked her 'Hey, where should we talk about this?' and she suggested with Joni. So we walk to your place and sure enough, Santiago's here too! Same reason as well, can you believe that?" Owen said.

"Not as much as how fast and as much as you said that. If you're speaking for a long while, Owen, something's clearly wrong," Joni joked.

"Well, it's just… where's the time gone? Going to high school seems exciting, but now it makes me worried that we'll get separated…" Santiago said.

"Unless some part of our friendship becomes strained, I don't see any of us drifting apart, Santiago. I think it's common for anyone to feel this way when they're growing up," Leslie replied.

"No no, it's funny you mention that. I was feeling the same way too. I mean, when was the last time we went on an adventure?"

"Wasn't it that toy store?" Santiago asked.

"Even then, everything afterwards was just: find this lost thing to help a neighbor," Owen added.

"If I may guess Joni, you're scared that we can't be the Cluefinders anymore because we're getting older and we have less time now?" Leslie asked.

"You always get it on point, Leslie," The red head replied.

"Ah, the days of innocence: how we all long for it," The green shirt boy said in a poetic tone.

"Okay, now you're talking like Leslie,"

"I can't help it! I'm anxious! That's how I cope, Joni!"

As Joni turned around, her braids hitting her shoulders, she suddenly snapped her fingers.

"You know what I just remembered?" She said. "Around here somewhere I had-"

"Had what?" Santiago asked. She ignored his question as she went digging in her closet. Sure enough, she came back with a blue scrapbook.

"What's that?" Owen asked.

"At the end of every adventure, I would record everything that happened in this scrapbook. All the pictures, souvenirs, everything!" Joni said, opening it up. "I think we're all feeling nostalgic for this stuff. Here, my parents might be sleeping; I'll open the window wider and let you guys in."

After getting everyone inside, the Cluefinders gathered around Joni's desk as they looked at the scrapbook. The first picture in it was the day their clubhouse was finished.

"Do you remember entering THAT place for the first time? Man it brought me back…" Owen said.

"I remember it being rather dinky and small. I think your parents expected it to be just a little play area for us, Santiago," Leslie said.

Santiago's parents were the ones who built the treehouse for the kids, sure enough, they weren't expecting them to turn it into what it is now: high tech, and a lot more space.

Joni turned the page, and the book began:

* * *

 _"MATHRA_

 _The first true Cluefinding Adventure"_

"Oh man, who could forget our first real big start?" Joni said.

"Hey, don't you still have those pair of shoes that still reek like the swamp?" Owen said.

"Somewhere. Oh, look right here!"

Joni pointed to a picture. It was the Cluefinders along with Mr. Limburger; the true culprit behind Mathra.

"Who would think that Mr. Limburger would be the true villain all along?" Santiago said.

"I'm still disappointed he never gave me the peanuts he offered…" Owen said in a disappointed attitude.

"Owen!" The other three said.

"Still the same after all these years..."

"Now hold on a minute. Joni, is that you I hear?" Yet another familiar voice rang out. "Why aren't you in bed? You're gonna wake your parents-"

"Oh, it's just you Laptrap," Joni replied.

"Oh you BET it's just me! And you should be thankful it's just me, otherwise you'd be in some big trouble-"

Joni opened the door. "Mind keeping it down first? Then I'll REALLY be in trouble."

The girl scooped in Laptrap inside as he looked around. "What's Santiago, Owen, and Leslie doing here? Don't tell me they're sleeping over again!"

"No no, we're just looking at my scrapbook. Just thinking back on some old memories before we have to face growing up and getting older."

"Well doesn't that sound deep! Lemme see…" Laptrap looked at the book. "Ah, this was the Mathra incident, wasn't it?

"You bet. The first time we ever lay eyes on you was this incident," Santiago replied.

"And it's better that Mathra never existed! I don't think my CPU could take such horror!"

"Oh, isn't that a Sneezeberry?" Leslie pointed out.

"A crushed one at that," Joni said.

"I'm surprised it hasn't gone rotten."

"I'm hoping it's still edible-" Owen said, making a reach for it.

"Oh goodness, Owen you better not!" The young black girl scolded. Joni looked horrified.

"Tch ha ha ha! I got you guys good! Nah, I don't wanna die so young."

"Hey Joni, remember that little puzzle we had to do to get that key? Throwing the berries at the stone tiles?"

"Oh oh, and don't forget the beetles," Joni added.

"Jeez, maybe it's just me but I got a little freaked out climbing those vines. I always thought they'd break off."

"You think THAT's frightening, Santiago?! That entire goo swamp just gave me the creeps! Everyone there was just on so many layers on uncanny! Especially that one member of that plant band with the huge pink eyes…" Laptrap said.

"Geez, did EVERYTHING scare you?!" The red head shook her head.

"I take offense to that statement, mainly because of the passive aggressive tone I hear!"

"Whoaa, what's that?" Owen pointed to a chipped off snagnet.

"Oh, it's a snagnet. Well, a piece of one anyway. I think it's a left over from when we saved the animals in Numeria. I just kept it around to put in here."

"I'd still wanna see how these worked…" Santiago murmured.

The next page was flipped and what was on it made everyone laughed. It was a picture of one of the talking stone statues, with Joni pretending to put Laptrap into its opened mouth.

"Oh HA HA, laugh now but you don't know how scared I was! I thought you were legitimately going to put me in there, Joni!" The floating robot said.

"I still remember taking that picture too," Santiago said in between chuckles. "I think he didn't let us use him for the next hour for a reason."

"I wish I could say that we are unneedlessly cruel to Laptrap, but even I get personal enjoyment out of it," Leslie said.

"Even Ms. Sympathetic Book Worm?! Oh, Socrates, hold me…"

The dog simply looked forward, almost as if he was trying to communicate to someone, only to fall asleep.

After a few more pictures, the highlight of the experience: there was a picture of the kids with Dr. Horace Pythagoras; Joni's uncle.

"Hey, how has he been, Laptrap?" Owen asked.

"Well, I'll have you know Dr. Pythagoras is still doing fine. Just last week, he left on a visit to Rwanda, and should be coming back this Friday."

"Rwanda? What business does he have there?" Leslie asked.

"Just some general stuff for his research. I would be with him but eh…"

"You're lazy?"

"You're afraid of another Mathra monster?" Joni added.

"You'll be bored without us?" Owen added.

"And it just wouldn't be fun without any of the above?" Santiago finally added.

"Alright alright, that's enough! Jeez, you kids might have grown up a bit, but you're still the same even at a high school freshman's age!" Laptrap complained. "Okay okay, we got through the memories of Mathra, what's next?"

* * *

 _"EGYPT_

 _Summer of the Gods"_

"Oh, our summer vacation trip to Egypt!" Santiago said. "I think out of everything we've done, that was probably one of our craziest adventures."

"Ooh, especially towards the end. Do you remember those giant hulking gods?" Owen added.

"Giant, yes. Friendly? Also a giant yes," Leslie replied. "Didn't I leave something in here from when we were coming back? I remember drawing it on the plane ride home."

"You can draw?"

"Sometimes. On the occasions when I'm not studying, I do like to pass the time drawing. For instance, I think I gave you a drawing of the gods we met that I made from memory, Joni."

"Well, let's just see what's in here first," Joni said. She flipped the page and took note of the first picture: the kids with Professor Botch, and the villain of that adventure: Alistair Loveless.

"Ugh, Loveless. I can't believe we were pretty blind to not figure out he was the bad guy," The red head said in a sour tone. "Looking back, he was a creep."

"I still don't know how he got better. Didn't he get turned into a mummy?" Santiago asked.

"Then thrown into a pit by that scary Set guy!" Laptrap added.

"Oh yeah, that too."

"Oh goodness, Set…" Leslie said, rubbing her skin. "I still kind of get goosebumps thinking about him. There was just something about him that was a lot more intimidating when compared to the other villains we've faced."

"Maybe except Milicia… but I mean, I guess I get it. Unlike Mathra who was fake, the plant monsters that just wanted clean water, and I guess MAYBE the aliens, Set was a literal god. Heck, he could have blasted us with some magic spell!" Joni said.

"And then the gods' powers would be all for nothing. What a shame that would have been. I liked my wings…" Owen said. "Oh hey, what happened to Professor Botch?"

Everyone turned their attention back to the book, which they had neglected for the past minute. The short blonde haired professor stood smiling in the middle.

"Oh, Professor Botch? My uncle is still in contact with him. As far as I know, he's teaching Egyptology at a university in New York."

"And that's the tomb with Set's ring and the clue scroll we found, right?" Santiago asked.

"It appears to be. This must have been when we all arrived there," Leslie replied.

"By the way, Joni. I still won't let you live down how you foolishly put on Set's ring, tried to hide what you did from the Professor, then culminated in him coming to life."

"Oh knock it off, Santiago!" Joni was clearly annoyed. "I told you before that even if I didn't touch it, Loveless would have grabbed it earlier than we'd expected, and then the world would REALLY be doomed!"

"And yet you still got on at us for telling you what you did MIGHT not have been okay!"

"Oh shut up…"

There were a few more notable pictures. There was a picture of Leslie and Joni cutting some fabric, Santiago and Owen drinking coffee much to Joni's displeasure, and one of Owen scribbling on a sleeping Ramses' face.

"I'm surprised we even were considered chosen enough by the gods after doing that," Leslie commented. The red head brushed her hand against something stone.

"Isn't that those cairoglyphs?" The Hispanic boy asked.

"Sure is. I kept a few that some of the people of Cairo gave us. You know, just to keep."

"You sure confused the people at the airport with that!" Owen commented.

"Cause they thought I had stolen it!"

After passing by a picture of Socrates sleeping, Joni turned to the next page. It seemed to be the Nile Kingdom. There was a picture of Socrates chasing the cat who guarded the obelisk to the Egyptian gods' palace, and one of Loveless' goons.

"Can I just say this? I LOVE that the goon pretty much assaulted me for the ring and you all did nothing to help!" Joni sarcastically said.

"Don't blame us, blame the script!" Owen said. "It didn't call for us to step in!"

"What do you mean script?"

"Don't question it, Joni. The more we ponder about the existential feeling life gives us by comments such as that, the more we reveal in our insanity," Leslie said in a wise tone of voice.

After looking at a picture of the obelisk, the red head turned the page.

"Oh, here's my drawing!' Leslie said. She pointed to three pieces of paper. Pulling it out, Joni unfolded the pictures to see that the black girl was right. On each piece of paper was her interpretation of the Gods they met. Above them were all their names: Horus, Sobek, Bastet, Isis, Thoth, and Set.

"Hey, don't you think you drew the…" Laptrap paused. He was looking straight at the drawing of Bastet and Isis. "The err… _measurements a little too-'_

"I'm going to have to ask you to stop that statement where you are, Laptrap. I don't wish to hear it," Leslie replied.

"Hey, do you think we should return back to Egypt and see if we can encounter these gods again? I could use more of their powers in my everyday life," Santiago asked.

"Oh sure, and then your parents are gonna give you hell and back about why you're suddenly muscular and purple. Wasn't THAT your transformation, Santiago?" Joni replied.

'Ah, got a point there…"

Putting back the drawings, Joni was going to look over the next few pictures until something on the other page caught her eye.

"Oh… no way! I forgot about this!"

The kids all looked at the picture and laughed. It was a picture of them at Halloween, the Cluefinders dressed as their appearances the Egyptian gods gave them.

"Oh, we had such a good time making those costumes and everything, they turned out so good!" Joni said. "Man this takes me back…"

"Don't you remember how it was making it?" Owen asked. "Joni and Leslie, you guys' were the easiest to make. Honestly, all you needed were crowns, a skirt and pants, and that dinky wooden sword, and you guys were pretty much set."

"And yours was a lot different yeah?" Santiago asked. The four went back to when they made the costumes. As Owen mentioned, Joni and Leslie's outfits were easy to make, however Owen was a different story. While he applied yellow hair spray, having to make wings was another story. The Asian boy had to ultimately cut up his orange shirt to apply holes in the back.

"And I still mourn that shirt…" He said.

But none of their outfits compared to what Santiago's was. Since his transformation at the hands of the god Sobek was turning him muscular and purple for superhuman strength, Joni and Owen's idea was to put Santiago on a rigorous and intense training course and diet in the hope he'd grow muscle. While Leslie reminded them multiple times that it would be impossible for someone like Santiago to have the body of a strong man due to his age and having to change multiple parts of his diet among other factors, the other two were unconvinced and still tried.

Ultimately, it was a failure as the Hispanic boy gave up within the first two days. Owen and Joni, defeated, settled on just painting Santiago's body purple.

"That was painful and you guys know it, right?" The yellow sweater wearing boy asked.

"Um, of course!" The red head and black haired girl and boy said in unison.

And sure enough, to close the picture's memories up, Laptrap and Socrates accompanied them that Halloween.

"I like to think that we were the most creative costumes in the neighborhood," Joni said, putting back the picture. After one more picture of the Cluefinders and Professor Botch back at their hotel after rescuing him, the Egypt part of the scrapbook was over.

"Man, that one brings back memories a lot. I think after Mathra, this is something even bigger than that," Santiago said.

"And the only time in our life that we'll probably use magic," Joni said.

"Even I didn't believe in the concept and logic of magic until we met those gods. Now I question the logistics of our own everyday life," Leslie added.

"Well, when we find ourselves floating on a cloud in front of a giant stone slab that's gonna have animals for gods, I think I'd question life too," Owen said.

"And human, my god was a human," The red head replied.

"Why was that chick-"

"You mean the goddess Isis? NOT 'that chick'?" Leslie scolded.

"Yeah, why was she the only human?"

"That's because in Egyptian mythology, Isis is depicted as a human woman-"

"I mean I mean, maybe… maybe she could be… a camel! No, maybe a hippo or some other animal out there in Egypt..."

"I just explained why but sure, go ahead, Owen. Anyway, what's next Joni?"

* * *

 _"THE PACIFIC_

 _Island of Aliens"_

As soon as Joni turned the page, the eyes of everyone in the room widened. There was only one picture in this portion of the book. It was the Cluefinders with Leslie's grandfather on his boat.

"What the?!" Joni exclaimed, grabbing the book. "I had a whole section for this! What happened to it?!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile, on an island in the Pacific Ocean, a group of aliens laugh. They're holding Joni's pictures, not wanting the world to know about them._

* * *

"Ugh… I'm bummed…"

"Hey, there's always the next section," Santiago said.

"I mean I guess. Let's look at it."

* * *

 _"THE PLANT EMPIRE_

 _The Pollution Conflict"_

"Oh goodness, the plant empire," Leslie said. "I like to think this is where I shined the most."

"Remember Ficus? I wonder how he's doing now. I hope he's not dead…"

"What an awful thing to say! I'm sure he's doing fine."

"What I'm still shocked about is that old Ms. Rose was the leader of the empire," Joni said.

"Hey, what happened to Ms. Rose's house? If she's underground now, what do you think happened to it?" Santiago asked.

"Foreclosed. Everyone assumed she disappeared, but of course, we all know what happened to her," Joni replied.

"Yeah, let's not forget what happened to YOU!" Laptrap said. "Almost turned into a plant yourself… how frightening!"

"Because I'm willing to give myself up to you guys. I'll be honest, turning into a plant was the first time I felt a bit scared on an adventure since Set."

"I don't blame you. No one would have known if you'd be back to normal," Owen replied. "Well, let's check some of the pictures."

The first picture was of the little baseball game the Cluefinders were having before they encountered the Plant Empire.

"You know, we never did finish that game. Wasn't I winning?" Joni asked.

"By 5 points…" Santiago rolled his eyes.

The next few pictures were of the area Joni and Santiago were kidnapped. The Hispanic boy looked a bit irked in some of them, clearly not photogenic at the time. Everyone got a laugh at his appearance.

There was one picture Leslie and Owen took. It was one of the Asian boy pretending to throw Ficus off the wooden bridge.

"I still don't know why you thought to play that prank on poor Ficus! He was so frightened!" The black girl said.

"I told you, Laptrap said it'd be funny!"

"And I told YOU I never said such a thing and you're just looking for a cop out!" The floating robot said.

Leaving them to their argument, the rest of the Cluefinders looked at the book. And for the remainder of the book, the four friends recalled each adventure: Milicia's planet, the Himalayas, and the amusement park and the toy store. With each recalled memory left the preteens with laughter and nostalgia.

As Joni closed the book, there was a knock on the door.

"Joni?! Are you still up?! Don't you know you have school tomorrow!"

"I told you!" Laptrap hissed.

The red head quickly shoved Santiago, Leslie, Owen, and Laptrap into her closet. Her father opened her door.

"You better have a good excuse to be up young lady… and why is your window open?!" He said.

"Um… I'm hot?"

A glare was given at her.

"Well alright. But go to bed! I've emphasized why a good night's rest before school is good for you!"

After he shut her door, Joni let her friends out.

"Sorry about the tight space," She said.

"No problem. I'm assuming we're gonna have to take our leave?" Owen asked.

"He does bring up a good point though. There are many health benefits, both physically and mentally," Leslie commented.

"Alright, alright. Let's get you all out."

As Laptrap ranted behind her ("Oh, I told you: "you should be in bed, decline your friends" but NOOOOOOOOOOO! You decide to bring them inside and risk getting in trouble! Now look what happened…"), Joni got all her friends out the window.

"Thanks for everything guys. I don't feel as bad going to school tomorrow and facing that we're getting older," She said.

"Hey, no prob, Jonzi!" Owen said. "It helped me feel better too!"

"So, we'll be seeing you then?" Santiago asked.

"Sure thing, exactly at 8!"

"Well, I think we all should get a good night's rest. Let's go everyone," Leslie said.

"Alright bye!"

"See ya!"

"Have a good night!"

As the Cluefinders parted, Socrates jumped up to the window, staring out at the kids.

 _"And so there they went: ready to face a new era in their life. I'll be honest; it was a bit scary knowing the kids were growing up. But they seemed adamant enough to face it,"_ The dog thought mentally. He lied down on the windowsill and slept.

Joni flopped onto her bed, taking off her glasses. In just a few hours, high school would begin, and so would another chapter in her life.

…but she had her friends with her. And that's all that mattered…

 **END**


End file.
